This invention is related in general to the field of network control systems. More particularly, the invention is related to an Internet control system communication protocol and method.
In a fully automated environment, appliances that change the various parameters of the environment can be inked to a control area network (CAN) and a controller. The appliances may include heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, lighting systems, audio-visual systems, telecommunications systems, security systems, surveillance systems, and fire protection systems, for example. One or more easy-to-use user interface, such as a touch panel, may be electronically linked to the control area network to accept user input and display current system status. Panja, Inc. of Dallas, Tex. designs and manufactures such networked appliance control systems.
In accordance with the present invention, a system and method of Internet control network is provided which eliminates or substantially reduces the disadvantages associated with prior control systems.
In one aspect of the invention, the boundaries between the Internet and the control area network are made transparent and the Internet becomes a device on the control area network. The Internet is controllable by user input entered on the user interface, such as touch panel. The Internet is further capable of receiving commands from the master controller in the control area network.
In another aspect of the invention, Internet applications such as web browsers and applications executing on web servers of information content providers become devices on the control area network. The Internet applications are capable of sending commands to and receiving commands from the control area network.
In yet another aspect of the present in invention, a communication protocol is provided. The communication protocol comprises a packet protocol. The packet protocol has a protocol field for indicating the type of protocol, a length of data field for listing the length in bytes of the data field, a data field containing sub protocol data, and, a checksum for determining the integrity of the packet.
In yet another aspect of the invention, a dynamic message protocol generator is provided to enable a scripting language such as VBScript or JavaScript capable of directly communicating on any TCP/IP network connection.